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i spent the day thinking about ideas, concepts, encapsulated philosophies, etc. just what sort of ideas do i have? where do they come from? what do i do with them? who do i share them with? that last question spawned a whole train of thought that i wanted to write down.
in my experience, i have rarely come across relationships with men where ideas are discussed at length; where every meeting with the other party was prefaced by a desire to bring something interesting to the conversation. i can count on one hand the men in my life that have made me think. no, strike that. men who have made me WANT to think. men who made me want to hold on tight to ideas, cultivate them and then present them for discussion. men who’s own ideas have set my own mind’s wheels in motion.
three men come to mind, in particular. it was fascinating unpacking those relationships and what about each man made my mind feel sharper, changed how i perceived my reality, in some cases challenged what i considered normal and in all cases made me, what i considered, a better person.
life has a funny way of generating serendipitous events. repete mentioned that he was going on a media and social networking fast for the month of february. talk like that always sparks my interest. his whole purpose behind the move is to free up some space for his own original ideas to percolate. always a fan of shutting stuff off and simplifying, i asked if he wanted some solidarity in the task. you know, so that when one of us is just jonesing to tweet that our most recent dump came out in the shape of a mountain lion, we can then talk one another off the ledge.
i’m in a phase in my life where i have a heightened sense of what is going on around me and paying more attention to the doom & gloom scenarios, political agendas, financial situations, etc. gone are the days of carefree youth and i will occasionally get the pangs of panic when the thought of some certain catastrophic event is presented to me by either an over-active imagination or over-hyped media. now, i know that there’s nothing new under the sun and our parents weathered equal doom & gloom at some point, too. it’s just that my head is just ready to explode with all the worry that is constantly shoved into our collective faces. you know what, though? nearly every sensationalized swine-flu-esque catastrophe that we are beat over the head with rarely materializes. i’m tired of it. i’m tired of the panicked reality that others are trying to create for me.
so, i’m totally down. i’m on board. i’m tuning in, turning on and dropping out, as it were. i’m going to let my mind wander. i’m going to dream. i’m going to think my own thoughts. i’m going to explore my own mind for a while. i’m going to trust that the world will keep on functioning for a month without my focused attention.
as luck would have it, the grammys were on last night, so i opted to pick up a new book instead and crawl into bed and read for a bit. and, as luck would have it, tuesdays with morrie was next on the reading list. within a couple of pages, morrie was saying something along the lines of, “if your culture isn’t presenting you something that you agree with, make your own culture”. i think this is an apropos start to the fast.
so, this caveman thing has been a hoot [for the most part – dropping this bombshell of a lifestyle on smsmh and a cupboard full of pastas, rices, crackers, chips and a fridge full of bread? not such a good idea]; both the “wwcmd?” hilarity [that thunderclap is starting to pick up on; “hey daddy? cavemen like applesauce?”] and the fun of meal planning and prep. i’ll admit that i was a hungry beast for the week plus, but this past week it seems i’ve hit my stride. i’ve nailed down some go-to foods that seem to satiate well and have begun experimenting with different recipes and types of food.
this past week we had some epic [for california anyway] weather; water spouts, a tornado, snow down to 2,000’, multiple inches of rain in a day. good stuff, and good weather for a caveman to run in. hunger waits for no weather. so, out into the deluge i headed every day. by day four i was ready for some dry running, but still having fun with the idiocy that is heading out into the weather for some exercise. each run this past week had me feeling stronger and stronger. tempo with repete on thursday am was tough, but had me feeling great the rest of the day. friday’s trail run had me scoring some blood oranges along the route. yummy, nutritious, and with a side benefit of making the eater look like they just slaughtered an animal. caveman currency, right there!
sunday dawned without a cloud in the sky and i was up early for a longish run around back bay. i opted to run on an empty stomach and see how i fared. unfortunately, i had just purchased a case of gu, so with that sunk cost, i might as well use them up. i decided to use them sparingly, though. i met up with special k after a first loop around the bay and ran the second half of my run with him. the miles just flew by and before i knew it i was done with 21 miles. the surprising thing was that i had only consumed three gu’s in the space of three hours. that’s roughly 300 calories and i didn’t feel hungry at all during the run. my legs felt wonderful and ready to tackle many more miles, if i so chose. no joint pain, no real fatigue, but instead i was feeling excited and alive.
i was hungry by the time i got home, but not so much that i was going to drop into that hunger headache state. hours later the legs felt wonderful, too and i was still full of energy and quite alert. a day later, and there’s no doms going on. i don’t know what the deal is, but i’m feeling like a million bucks. i’m running un-injured, healthy and with boundless energy. the high that i’m on from this week has me wanting to grab some iron oxide and head to the local cave to document the hunt on the walls.
i’ve been waging a personal war against corn for some time [sorry laurie, no offense]. when the omnivore’s dilemma came out a while back, it validated a lot of what i believe about corn in the american diet, and fueled some thought about how distant we are from the origin of our meals. those thoughts percolated and began to bubble forth in the form of a desire to cut back on the volume of baked goods and processed carbs in my normal diet. now, don’t get me wrong. i eat well. massive dark green salads with every dinner, my breads are whole grain, my pasta is that high fiber stuff, etc etc, but i eat A.LOT.OF.IT.
fast forward to this past week and the nyt did a fashion and lifestyle article about a group of modern cavemen in nyc. the article resonated with me on a couple of levels and the thought of being a modern caveman just seemed kooky enough that it grabbed my interest. basically, the two things i took away from the article were first, that diet consists of mostly fresh fruits and veggies with the occasional large protein [read RAW MEAT. RAAAWWRRR!!] meal every couple of days and second, that exercise is long endurance workouts coupled with intense lifting workouts marked by rapid, gross body movement with lots of weight. so, essentially, the lifestyle simulates foraging food while tracking and chasing prey, attacking and killing prey and feasting on said prey.
i googled around a bit more, read some blogs, some other stupid stuff and then some reviews of a couple other books and it turns out there’s a whole paleo movement, loosely associated with the crossfit community. there is also a community that encourages the paleo diet in conjunction with ironman training. interesting. i took a little from here, a little from there, a little creative license and a little amazing hip-esque goofiness and began modeling a change in my diet and exercise philosophy.
so, with little guidance and even barer reason, i now ask myself, wwcmd? things like wrestling a pastrami sandwich after a lunch run, eating pig and chicken embryo following a long run and celebrating a tribe member’s annual remembrance by feasting on a roast beast become common statements in my day to day life. i utter things like, “cavemen don’t eat bread” or “cavemen like potatos!” honestly, if you know me, the change is as much about having fun as it is about exploring a new fitness philosophy.
here’s the thing, though. i’m liberal with my interpretation of caveman food. fruit and nuts loosely translate into peanut butter and jelly [not really, just an example]. but even being liberal with what a caveman would eat, i’m finding that filling the void in my stomach [trust me, i eat a lot] is challenging. i can’t just throw together a sandwich anymore or toss a pizza in the oven. no, i’ve decimated our store of tangerines, apples and bananas. i’ve mowed through all the bags of carrots [carefully, mind you] and celery. i’ve even been eyeing those whole, raw onions in the crisper. and still, the void rumbles.
i think i’d be wise to hit up some of the books, websites and blogs to get a good repertoire of caveman recipes, lest the neighbors pets start to look appetizing. coyotes on the trail in the pre-dawn hours? that growling my belly is a harbinger you should heed. seriously, no wonder primal man was so…primal. he was driven by hunger. i can only imagine his joy when he first figured out how to make a corn cake.
*note, i WAS going to use “dawn lamb” by the seal cub clubbing club as the soundtrack for this post, but when i went to load it up, this song came up in the rotation on it’s own. kismet, i tell ya!
when gumbyhead announced that her next race was going to be the santa barbara marathon, i immediately offered to head up for the weekend and join her for the race. i started working some longer road runs into my training and planned a weekend with our good friends, kevin & lesley. since i ran my first race in support of someone [warren], i have found that i REALLY enjoy running the marathon distance as a pacer or as company for someone who could use the support. so, the plans were set and i’d be at gh’s side trying to pace her for the sub four hour bq that she sought. nothing special, nothing crazy, just encouraging words and a consistent pace.
and then we got to santa barbara.
kevin & lesley [and their kids, loganzilla and madisonasaurus] are THE. BEST. CREW. FAMILY. EVER. they’ve supported me at several half marathons, triathlons and other distance races. they never fail to be all over the course in expected and unexpected places with the support and encouragement that makes for highly memorable races. in addition, the second kevin and i reconnect, we begin a downward spiral of humor.
the climax for this weekend was on saturday night.
kevin had pulled out the christmas boxes from the attic and we had uncovered a tub full of santa hats. somehow, they had ended up with almost a dozen of santa hats with white braids. odd, yes, but functional. my head was cold, so i jokingly donned one to keep my noggin warm. through dinner, we started joking about running the race with it on. i lamented only having a day glow green running shirt and tights to accompany the hat and that’s when lesley disappeared from the dining table.
only to return with a red skirt from her high school days in drill team.
kevin then disappeared and returned with a plain white technical shirt for me to use. and, before i knew it, i had signed up to run as ms. claus the following morning. i debated stuffing a sports bra, but thought better of it, seeing as how it might cause significant chaffing. i called gumbyhead after dinner and let her know i had something up my sleeve for the following day. she seemed apprehensive, but willing.
at the race the next morning, i carried the skirt with me until just before the start [i had fleece pants on to keep warm]. as i put the skirt on, the looks began. the double takes. the triple takes. the laughs. the eye-rolls. both mark and gumbyhead were laughing at the reactions they were seeing.
we toed the line shortly thereafter and headed on our way.
 this wasn’t really my race, so i had the simple task of running a consistent pace, playing sherpa for gumbyhead by grabbing stuff from the aid stations and giving words of encouragement. that gave me much freedom and energy to ham it up for the crowds. as i ran along in my cute red skirt and white braids, the reaction from the crowd was one of two things; either they would notice the skirt from a ways off an shout something comical or they would see the hat, yell for ‘santa’ and then amend their statement as they noticed the skirt once i passed. the reactions were a constant source of humor for me and i made a point of waving to everyone that interacted with me. this gave me an endless fount of energy and kept a smile on my face for the entire run.
gumbyhead and i were fortunate to have drew show up around mile 3 or 4 and hang out with us for a bit. he took a pit stop at one point, but we again bumped into him for several miles around his house and then again at the finish. it was a real pleasure to meet up with him and to have him participate in our goofiness.
 the race went really well for the most part, with us nailing a pace right around 9min/mile. i was confident that gumbyhead would have her sub 4 bq. but i failed her in one respect. i didn’t bring a watch. i REALLY should have had one and not relied on her garmin. i would have known better when we started dropping time and how much we needed to pick back up. as we approached the later miles of the race, gumbyhead had to make a pit-stop and waiting at the honey buckets for one to free up ate into our already tenuous time. once we got going again we were playing catch up, but i was still confident that we’d be able to make up the time. what i didn’t know, though, was just how bad the two final hills would take their toll on gh. don’t get me wrong, she pushed hard and dug deeper than i’ve seen many people attempt in the marathon. she gutted it out even when she doubted she was going to get her bq.
in the end, though, the bq slipped out of our reach, but gh STILL turned in a blistering fast last two miles to cross the line in 4:06. the great thing about this race, aside from the camaraderie, scenery and weather [duh] was that gh had the opportunity to really dig and see what she’s capable of when things get really hard and bleak. i’m confident that with a good training cycle where all the long runs are completed and a decent amount of speedwork is accomplished, she’ll see her goal. i’m crossing my fingers that with the new job under her belt, that training cycle will finally materialize.
oh, and one last groovy thing was smsmh and tc were at the finish cheering for us as we came down the finishing chute. it is always great to see them come out and support my craziness. this time, though, smsmh had plopped one of those silly white-braid santa hats on tc’s head so we matched. as i spotted them in the crowd, i circled back around, picked up tc and trotted across the finish line with him in my arms. i got a great reaction out of the crowd and from the announcer who said something along the lines of “oh! what’s this! it’s two santas! or, wait! it’s ms claus and her helper!” i was laughing, tc was laughing and the crowd was having a blast with it.
i can’t think of anything that would have made this race more enjoyable. well, maybe a shave and wax.
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